5. Chapter 5

I do not know how long I slept, but it felt like forever. When I woke up, I was sore and tired from not moving at all. My limbs felt like lead and I could barely keep my eyes open. I was faintly aware of the fact that I was in a strange bed and I had no idea where I was, but at the time, those facts seemed irrelevant.

“Oh good, you are awake,” a musical voice said softly.

“Wha’?” I yawned and sat up. Sitting at the end of my bed was a beautiful girl. She had long brown hair and golden eyes.

“Hello, Remembrance,”

“Mem,” I muttered, rubbing my eyes, acutely aware that I was horrible looking.

“I am Bella, Miss Mem,” Bella smiled brightly.

“How do you do?” I replied, southern manners very much intact.

“Fine fine. I remember what it used to be like, being so rudely woken up by Alice. I thought that I might wait for you before Alice realized that a human was sleeping.”

A human? I thought, but let it slide. Who was I to judge my beautiful host?

“Are you hungry?”she asked me.

I nodded yes. Bella smiled kindly at me. “Come, then.” Taking my hand, she led me downstairs where a large pancake breakfast sat waiting for me.

“Is this all for me?” I asked before I could help myself.

Bella answered yes.

“But this is much to much! I could never possibly eat it all!”

“You are a little thing, I’ll admit.” Bella said. I flushed. That was not what I meant. Bella continued, not noticing my discomfort. “But do not worry. What you do not eat will be used later. Emmett and Jasper want to have a food eating contest.”

“Oh,” I said, unsure of anything else.

In the end, I daintily ate four pancakes. Then Bella who I somehow understood to be my keeper while I was …… wherever I was led me into the living room. There sat eight beautiful people. I saw Jasper and waved. He grinned reassuringly at me and I waved back.

“Good morning, Miss Remembrance,” he said.

“Good morning, Jasper.”

“Mem,” Bella said softly, “This is my family: Edward, my husband. Rosalie and Emmett.” I assumed that they were together because of the wedding bands and the clasped hands. “Carlisle and Esme,” The two kind people smiled at me. I tried to do so back. “Alice and you already know her husband, Jasper.”

I nodded my head. Whoa! I could not believe that they were all married to each other! They all looked so young. Maybe that was why they shared a house. It did cost a lot to live in an apartment.

“Hello,” I said with a small grin.

“Remembrance,” Esme said softly, “Can you please tell us why you were in Port Angeles?”

I flushed bright crimson. “It’s a long story,”

“Miss Remembrance,” Jasper came over and kneeled in front of me. “We already know about Carson,”

I blinked. “What? H…how? I mean… is he here?” I could not help the fear that crept into my voice.

“No no,” Jasper shook his head and comfortingly took my hands. “He is not here. Not yet. But he will come for you.”

“I can keep running,” I answered, not sure how he knew about Carson and not understanding anything really that was going on.

“How did you get the mark on your neck, Miss Remembrance?” Carlisle asked me.

I felt my eyes widen. I looked around the room at the inhumanly beautiful people. I actually believed them, as crazy as it sounds. They all had golden eyes. I had never seen them before. Perhaps that was indicative of their vampire-ness. Then I saw Emmett. He had the same blood-curdling eyes as Carson. I could not help what happened.

I didn’t mean to. I really did not. But I did.

I screamed as loudly as I could, my eyes staring fixatedly at Emmett’s. For the rest of my life, I would never forget those eyes. No other Cullen scared me. Just Emmett. Emmett and his eyes.

Edward’s eyes opened in alarm. “No! Wait! Miss Mem,” he suddenly appeared in front of me. “My brother Emmett- he is not what you think. He is not like Carson. He does not feed on humans!”

I stopped screaming only to glare at him. “Then why are his eyes red?”

Edward sighed. “He fell off the bandwagon,”

“I see.” I said. Big lie. Edward gave me a crooked grin. He knew it too.

Edward gave me a comforting smile. I tried valiantly to not shrink under his bizarre gaze. He grinned, encouraging my effort. I tried to be a bit more bolder. Something inside me rebelled against my brain. Instinct screamed at me to run away yelling in fear at the top of my lungs but a feeling in my heart told me that they truly were no threat to me. Not even Big and Red Emmett. That little voice whispered to me that they were caring and would not hurt me.

“You don’t want to know,” Edward said suddenly, sensing my thoughts before I had even thought them.

I gulped, eyes unfortunately wide. “I think I got the gist of it.”

Edward shrugged his shoulders. “Perhaps,”

That statement confused me. I was fairly certain that I knew what Emmett had done. It must have been an accident for Edward to have called it “Fallen of the Band Wagon,”. Naturally, that meant only one thing and despite the vulgarity of the act, it did not disturb me as much as it probably should have. I chalked it up to having been desensitized by horror films and every day violence. Oh well. I’d live.

“What ever you say, Ed,” I said, more concerned about how Edward would react to being called Ed than anything else.

Edward just raised an eyebrow. Emmett on the other hand, laughed a deep and booming, almost bear-like laugh. He clutched his sides as his ginormous form shook from mirth. It looked like he would have been crying and it briefly crossed my mind that he might not be able to. Just another thing to add to the list of growing info. about the vamps. How nifty was that?

“That is the funniest thing I’ve heard since Ed was hormonal!”

That statement quirked my curiosity. Carlisle took a step forward. I did not balk or back away. Just like his sons- all of them, I trusted him innately. Don’t ask me why. I just did. “Miss Mem,” he said slowly, “Do you feel alright?”

I nodded my head, “Yes, sir. I feel fine.”

“In that case, I feel that it is in your best interest if you let me give you an examination. We need to know if Carson has marked you in any other way.”

I looked at Carlisle shrewdly. “Are you a doctor?”

His entire family smiled at me. They all trusted him. I suddenly and against my will, felt very uneasy. “Yes,” came his reply, “I have been one for a very long time.”

I did not have to even think about it. I jumped off the couch and tried to run away. Strong cold but covered arms caught me. I did not know who withheld me from escape but someone did. Memories of Carson permeated my brain. I suddenly saw him and only him. It was his arms that stopped me from running and his voice that tried to soothe me.

I kicked and screamed at him, terrified did not accurately describe it. Nothing would ever come close to describing the icy slew that my blood turned into whenever I saw him, the painful beats my heart skipped when he spoke, the adrenaline that I felt course through my veins when he touched me. Nothing could ever describe the sheer force of the terror that I felt in the pit of my stomach when his name was just mentioned in a passing context.

“Miss Remembrance, please,” a familiar drawl said. It was not Jasper’s voice I heard but Carson’s. I screamed louder and thrashed about with all of my might. My hand struck something hard and I felt a dizzying pain. It was so powerful that I almost fainted from it alone. My sight became blurred and was rimmed by black.

I did not let that stop me. Crying from the pain in my hand and the fear in me. I tried to run as the arms let go. I did not get far. I tripped on the first stair and Esme was instantly over me. I saw her golden eyes and familiar caramel hair. She reminded me so much of Suky that I lost it. I started bawling everywhere, crying yet again for my sister and for the pain that quickly crept up my arm. Esme pulled me in tight and let me sob, ruining her blouse. I later felt very bad about that.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered.

“It is quite alright, my dear.” Esme soothingly whispered in my ear. Her chilly breath made goosebumps rise up on my skin. “Do tell me, why did you run from Carlisle?”

“I hate doctors,” I muttered furious. “I hate them.”

“I am sorry to hear that.” Carlisle knelt beside Esme and me. “We do not try to hurt you, Miss Mem. We only want to help.”

“Sometimes you’re help is not wanted,” I snarled, angry at myself for my venomous words to the kind people and for loosing control so completely. That rarely happened.

“She thinks that you want to do yet another rape-kit on her,” Edward spoke up.

I looked over Esme’s shoulder to see the boy who had just somehow read my mind. I started to shake and fought away the tears in my eyes. I promised myself that I would not fear these nice people… err… vampires. But Edward’s startling new ability was enough to resend me over the edge.

I saw Jasper in the corner, his eyes closed to slits. Alice stood faithfully beside him. When Edward said that, his golden eyes snapped open wide. Edward stiffened as did Alice. I did not know what had just happened, but it did not seem good.

“Yet another?” Jasper whispered harshly.

I could barely nod but somehow forced myself to do so. Jasper growled, low and deep, frightening and rumbling, before vanishing just like Carson. I went stiff. Alice looked between Edward and her husband. before following, vanishing just like he had. I wondered where Bella and Emmett were, and Rosalie, but did not have time to dwell on the subject. Far more important matters were progressing.

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose. “I am sorry, Miss Mem. My brother did not mean to frighten you. He only wants to help.”

I was not going to disagree with a vampire, even if I did trust him. I wasn’t completely stupid. “Okay,”

Edward looked me in the eyes. His gaze was just as soul searching as it had been from across the room, “I am not lying.”

“I believe you,” I answered immediately.

“Not completely,” he responded.

I shrugged, a grin tugging at the corners of my mouth. “I am trying to,”

“I know.”

Carlisle put a hand on my shoulder. I fought against instinct and did not jerk away. I looked up at him, thinking that if I looked sweet enough, he would not do any tests. He chuckled but spoke to me seriously. “Miss Mem, it is now more imperative that ever that I give you an exam. I promise that there will be no tests.”

I gave him a skeptical look. “Promise?”

Carlisle smiled at me reassuringly. “I do so solemnly promise. Really, I need to look for signs of other vampire activity. I also need to fix your arm,”

I looked down. Having momentarily blocked out the pain in my arm, it came rushing back as I took the sight in. It looked like part of the bone had come out of the skin. Blood pooled everywhere and there were already signs of massive bruising.

“Are you squeamish?” Edward asked me, smiling to himself as if he remembered a memory.

I shrugged. “I’ve passed out a couple of times.”

“A couple?”

“Three an a half. During sex-ed., when a Sam Harris talked about how he got diabetes at a health assembly, and when I saw the stitches in my broken finger.”

“That’s just three.”

“Twice during the diabetes thing and I was only partly unconscious for my finger.”

“I don’t understand.”

I shrugged. “It’s not that complicated. I could not see or understand what any body was saying to me. But I did not follow over or black out.”